BEDA #4

Oh hello!

So in addition to doing BEDA with you lovely folks, I was going to attempt VEDA and revive my dead youtube channel.  However, the first day I had a total of 2 hours to practice, record, edit, and upload a video, so much like this blog post it was late.  But if you would like to see the final product I'll put it at the bottom.  It's a cover of the Velvet Underground and Nico's "These Days," which I already love but am especially fond of because of its use in Wes Anderson's film "The Royal Tenenbaums."

I am currently sitting in my last quarter of Music History and listening to a glorious Ravel orchestral arrangement of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.  The speakers are really pumped up today, so every time there's a bass drum roll or blast of brass my ears revel in glee at the low frequencies.  There's so much dramatic cymbal that every two measures seems like an important event in the music, but really it's all important and beautiful.  Then the piece ends and I remember what we discussed in class last week about the composer's life.  Mussorgsky came from a pretty wealthy family in Russia, but by the time he was 22 lost basically everything and became a civil servant to support himself.  He joined a group of rebellious artists who opposed the tsarist regime, and fell into a lot of bad habits, including copious amounts of drinking.  Penniless and an alcoholic, he died in a military hospital a week before his 42nd birthday. For a visual representation:

               Young Mussorgsky                                         A week before death Mussorgsky

                 

However this, he wrote tons of really epic works such as Pictures at an Exhibition, which is an important work in the pianist repertoire, as well as Night of Bald Mountain, which inspired a super creepy animation in Disney's Fantasia.  Also, apparently Michael Jackson dug him: Michael Jackson does Mussorgsky

Yay learning!

Anyway looking forward to what Sarah already mentioned as well as interesting tidbits about your fields :)

Le video:

CDSM #8??? All the feels

So since I have no idea what to write about I'm just going to write.

This may get a little personal but sometimes you need to.

There seem to me to be some people in the world who just get it. I don't know if I can explain further than that. I don't think I can explain or define what "it" is. Some people just seem to get it.

During high school I was lucky enough to be super involved in a theatre group full of such people. I came in extremely shy and slightly depressed and came out confident and more talented and creative. It did wonders for me and I was definitely missing something these first two years of college. I love my friends here and my roommates but that bond was missing.

But I was lucky enough to get into an a cappella group here this past week who also seem to get it. Only a week and I feel like I'm part of a family again.

These are my thoughts on this:

1) In most new social groups, you are assumed to be an outsider, you are assumed to be uninteresting, you are assumed to be unremarkable and unattractive, and you have to prove that you are a good person who is fun to be around and has good ideas and a rich life. In these groups of people who seem to "get it", everyone is immediately welcomed. You are innocent until proven guilty, so to say; you are accepted for who you are before they even know who you are. It seems hard to find people like this but people like this are amazing. I feel like nerdfighters can be like this too (I mean look at this blog, prime example!). It's just so positive and heartwarming and I wish the whole world was like that (echhhhh listen to me)

2) Both of these experiences I have had were with performance groups. My second rehearsal experience with my high school theatre group was fight choreography - not fight choreography, no, Gigi-gets-beat-up-violently choreography. When you're part of a performance group you are immediately thrown into very close situations (both physically and emotionally). With live performance especially, you're constantly creating, and relying on each other to create. You almost have no choice but to be family when you're always working together to try and make something beautiful.

I dunno. I'm just really really happy.

To give you some fun treats (and to show you why I am SO FREAKING EXCITED TO BE IN THIS GROUP) here are some videos from the weekend for your enjoyment. That is me running sound in the first one (us newbies only performed in a couple of the simpler songs).

Feverish Music Rant

Hey guys!

I said that I would have my bedroom post up by today, but I'm still sick and my room is a total mess... so I thought (since I haven't posted in a while) I'll post about this weeks new theme and post my bedroom post later on in the week...

SO! MUSIC!

When it comes to music, I'm all over the map. I like to have music playing in the background at all times. But it really depends on what I'm doing when it comes to what music I play. When I'm cleaning or doing homework, I just turn on the radio to the Top Hits... so right now I'm getting a lot of "Call Me Maybe" and "Gangham Style" mixed in with Taylor Swift reminding me that we will never ever get back together.

Popular music is weeeeiiiird.

When I'm writing, I tend to listen to a mix of Lady GaGa and Florence + The Machine:

Both of them have really different styles but have similar, off beat weird personas. But Florence is a little bit more heartfelt while GaGa is a lot more weird. The real difference here is I will listen to Florence + The Machine for fun while I've kind moved on from Lady GaGa.

But you might be asking, what do you like to listent to when you want to listen to music....

Well to try and answer your question I love to listen to Flogging Molly, Our Lady Peace, Great Big Sea, David Bowie (I have this weird David Bowie love that I blame Labyrinth for forming), Howard Shore, Tool, Green Day, Billy Idol, Queen, Scouting for Girls, An Amalgamation of Songs from different musicals, Eric Hutchinson, Mummford and Sons and Gotye (I just love his song Eyes Wide Open). 

There are other bands, musicians and composers that I like, but I'm currently drawing a blank... I'm going to blame the cold meds for that.

I like to think that musical tastes say a lot about a person, but I don't really know what my musical taste says about me.

But I think that's a question for another day.

So I'll leave you all with this:

Enjoy!